I discovered the films of Hayao Miyazaki as all people should, through the eyes of a child. My half Japanese goddaughter was watching his film "Princess Mononoke" to help her learn Japanese and by watching, I mean she played it on a continuous loop from morning to night. Despite not being able to watch anything else, I fell in love with the way Miyazaki told stories.
When his next film (released after his temporary retirement), "Spirited Away" was released I decided to head to Kim's Video near St. Mark's to get my hand on some of his earlier work. All I could find at that time was "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Kiki's Delivery Service", but I knew there was others so I ordered them from Japan and watched them in Japanese without subtitles (keep in mind my Japanese was a lot better back then). Still I vowed one day I'd watch them in a language I understood better.
I kept my vow over Christmas. I watched in chronological order all of the Studio Ghibli collection starting with Miyazaki's first feature film, "Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro" (1979).
It starts with two lanky men oddly dressed stealing a bunch of counterfeit money, but they don't care. They roll with the punches. One of the men is master thief Arséne Lupin III, grandson to Arséne Lupin, often regarded as the French counterpart to Sherlock Holmes, created by Maurice Leblanc.
Leblanc was heavily influenced in his early career by Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupaussant. The first Arsène Lupin story appeared in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine "Je Sais Tout" (I Know Everything) starting in issue No. 6 in July 1905.
Clearly created at editorial request under the influence of, and in reaction to, the wildly successful Sherlock Holmes stories, the roguish and glamorous Lupin was a surprise success and Leblanc's fame and fortune beckoned. In total, Leblanc went on to write twenty-one Lupin novels or collections of short stories. It is from Leblanc's "La Comtesse de Cagliostro" that the title and many aspects of the film's story are taken from.
Some lupinophiles (or lupinologists and lupinomaniacs if you prefer) disturbingly but somewhat convincingly argue that Lupin really existed and that Leblanc was thus his mere historiographer, which is similar to claims made by fans of Doyle's "Sherlock".
The studio that created the anime Lupin III ended up getting sued by the estate of Leblanc for using his work without permission, which is why in France it was known as "Edgar, le détective cambrioleur" (the burgular detective) though the copyright on Leblanc's work had long since expired.
"Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro" is funny. I mean terribly funny. The jazz soundtrack is equally wonderful. (It also makes me wonder why Miyazaki and writer Haruki Murakami have never teamed up.) In this film we see a first glimpse of one of Miyazaki's primary fascinations, flight, that features heavily in all his films (Catbus from Totoro being my favourite mode of aerial transportation from any Miyazaki film).
It shows that from the very beginning Miyazaki had a vision and style that makes his films so distinctive. While in the 80's anime was all about superpowers, big robots, and fighting - Miyazaki took a different approach. Lupin's Fiat 500 with the twisted bumper somehow doesn't look out of place being chased by the more fantastical plane-glider. It doesn't look ridiculous with the massive gattling gun either. That amalgamation of the every day with the magical or spiritual is what fascinates me about Miyazaki's work and the first evidence of this made this movie well worth the time I spent watching it.
"The Castle of Cagliostro" has had a wide range of influence from Disney's "Atlantis" to "The Simpson's Movie". It also helped Miyazaki to further cement his special style of animation, which would emerge in his next film, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind", which will be the next film I'll be discussing.
When his next film (released after his temporary retirement), "Spirited Away" was released I decided to head to Kim's Video near St. Mark's to get my hand on some of his earlier work. All I could find at that time was "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Kiki's Delivery Service", but I knew there was others so I ordered them from Japan and watched them in Japanese without subtitles (keep in mind my Japanese was a lot better back then). Still I vowed one day I'd watch them in a language I understood better.
I kept my vow over Christmas. I watched in chronological order all of the Studio Ghibli collection starting with Miyazaki's first feature film, "Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro" (1979).
It starts with two lanky men oddly dressed stealing a bunch of counterfeit money, but they don't care. They roll with the punches. One of the men is master thief Arséne Lupin III, grandson to Arséne Lupin, often regarded as the French counterpart to Sherlock Holmes, created by Maurice Leblanc.
Leblanc was heavily influenced in his early career by Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupaussant. The first Arsène Lupin story appeared in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine "Je Sais Tout" (I Know Everything) starting in issue No. 6 in July 1905.
Clearly created at editorial request under the influence of, and in reaction to, the wildly successful Sherlock Holmes stories, the roguish and glamorous Lupin was a surprise success and Leblanc's fame and fortune beckoned. In total, Leblanc went on to write twenty-one Lupin novels or collections of short stories. It is from Leblanc's "La Comtesse de Cagliostro" that the title and many aspects of the film's story are taken from.
Some lupinophiles (or lupinologists and lupinomaniacs if you prefer) disturbingly but somewhat convincingly argue that Lupin really existed and that Leblanc was thus his mere historiographer, which is similar to claims made by fans of Doyle's "Sherlock".
The studio that created the anime Lupin III ended up getting sued by the estate of Leblanc for using his work without permission, which is why in France it was known as "Edgar, le détective cambrioleur" (the burgular detective) though the copyright on Leblanc's work had long since expired.
"Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro" is funny. I mean terribly funny. The jazz soundtrack is equally wonderful. (It also makes me wonder why Miyazaki and writer Haruki Murakami have never teamed up.) In this film we see a first glimpse of one of Miyazaki's primary fascinations, flight, that features heavily in all his films (Catbus from Totoro being my favourite mode of aerial transportation from any Miyazaki film).
It shows that from the very beginning Miyazaki had a vision and style that makes his films so distinctive. While in the 80's anime was all about superpowers, big robots, and fighting - Miyazaki took a different approach. Lupin's Fiat 500 with the twisted bumper somehow doesn't look out of place being chased by the more fantastical plane-glider. It doesn't look ridiculous with the massive gattling gun either. That amalgamation of the every day with the magical or spiritual is what fascinates me about Miyazaki's work and the first evidence of this made this movie well worth the time I spent watching it.
"The Castle of Cagliostro" has had a wide range of influence from Disney's "Atlantis" to "The Simpson's Movie". It also helped Miyazaki to further cement his special style of animation, which would emerge in his next film, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind", which will be the next film I'll be discussing.
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| It also has one of the best car chase scenes of all time (my other favourite perhaps being the one in Ronin). |
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